Jajarkot, December 23

A community health centre at Dahan VDC, Jajarkot has been padlocked for the past 13 days after a dispute between locals and authorities.

The health centre was established four years ago and delivers services from ward no 1 to 4 of Dahan VDC. The centre has been operating from a rented room of Mainapakha at Rs 2,000 monthly rent as it lacks its own building.

Though a four-room building for the centre was constructed at a cost of six lakh rupees, the health facility has been padlocked after a dispute ensued between villagers and the centre authorities over whether to shift or not to shift the centre to its new building.

The padlock is likely to affect the regular vaccination administered to children below one-year-old.

Lok Bahadur Thapa, chairman of the Health Centre Management Committee, said disruption of regular immunisation would lead to failure of national campaign for immunisation.

He added that the padlock had deprived locals of health service.

Jajarkot District Public Health Office Chief Dr Rajendra GC said his office would not meddle in the villagers’ dispute. GC said their attention was focused on protecting the lives of health workers.

“Villagers have to solve their disputes on their own,” GC said. Acting CDO Shivraj Sedai said they could not do anything as no complaint had been registered at the DAO.